Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan’s Electoral Rival, Issues Warning to Iranian, Afghan, and Syrian Refugees

Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan’s electoral rival, issued a serious warning to Iranian, Afghan, and Syrian refugees.

Turkey is one of the countries hosting the largest number of refugees and has been home to Iranian, Afghan, and Syrian refugees for years. Although Turkey is a safe country for refugees who have migrated there for various reasons, they face numerous challenges.

One of the problems facing refugees is the lack of resources, including meager wages, lack of insurance, and refugee rights. Turkey receives funds from the United Nations annually for hosting refugees in the country, but refugees, particularly Iranian refugees, receive no share of these payments. In some cases, the threat of deportation endangers many of them.

Turkey’s presidential elections will be held in mid-June 2023. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is running in these elections, and Kılıçdaroğlu is another presidential candidate.

A video published on social media today indicates Kılıçdaroğlu’s warning about clearing Turkey of refugees after his election as president. In this interview, Kılıçdaroğlu says: “You can see the Syria-Turkey border behind me. As long as the stain of racism has not touched this noble Turkish nation, we will return Syrian brothers and sisters to their country within a maximum of one year.

I want everyone to know this, but at the same time we will be the most powerful country in the region. Iran has opened its borders, and Afghans who have come to Turkey from Iran will also be returned to Iran. Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan must understand this; I am speaking clearly and transparently, and there is nothing hidden behind us. We have no fanaticism or hostility with any country, nation, or foreigner, but we want to live freely in our own country. We do not want to change the democratic infrastructure of our country.”

The full video of Kılıçdaroğlu’s interview can be viewed below.

Refugees living in this country are concerned about their situation in the future following Kılıçdaroğlu’s election as president. Especially those refugees who have no possibility of returning to their countries and whose entry back into their homeland is threatened by very serious dangers.